Awakening the Fire (16 page)

“I’m not sure. I guess I’ll find a way to go alone.”

“They will kill you.”

“I don’t kill easy.”

He laughed harshly. It wasn’t at all pretty this time. “Have you ever been inside a vampire nest?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so. Few outsiders survive the experience. The location is a closely guarded secret.”

“I know that, but I’ll find a way.” She wasn’t half as confident as she sounded.

“I think not. Unless I agree to help you.” He slowly shook his head, as if arguing with himself. “You are correct that I very much want to find Marcus. Since you could possibly speed that process, I will take you to the nest. As long as you do exactly as I say.” Spinning on his heels, he headed toward the door. “I am overdue for the last set. If you wish, we can continue the discussion when I finish.”

“That'll be fine.” Ari was dancing mental jigs and ready to agree to almost anything. Until she remembered that unexplainable moment of their magics intertwining when she first arrived tonight. A very dangerous moment. She didn’t intend to spend the rest of the night fighting off his allure. “Uh, wait. When I got here, you knew when I entered the club, right?”

About to punch the security code into the door pad, he gave her a blank face.

“And you turned up the magic?” she persisted.

A corner of his mouth twitched.

“If I stay, you have to promise you’ll tamp it down. Agreed?”

The smile reached his eyes. “Did you not tell me your magic was strong enough to resist vampire…persuasion?”

“Agreed?” Ari repeated. She wasn’t sure her magic would even try to resist if he really turned up the wattage.

“That would seem to give you an unfair advantage. But in the interests of our, ah, partnership, you have my word, on one condition. You too are bound by the same restriction.”

“Me? I don’t understand.”

A frown touched his forehead, then smoothed away. “That is a problem, but nothing to worry about tonight. You still have my promise. For tonight only, madam witch.”

She smiled at him. “I have a name. Have you forgotten it?”

“Arianna.” He let his magic run over her as he reached out and touched a curl below her ear. “Nice hair.”

Ari’s pulse leaped as a shiver from his light touch raced through her. When his eyes dropped to her outfit, she felt her face grow warm.

“In fact, you look delightful. But it was not necessary. All you had to do was ask.” With that cryptic remark, his smile flashed, and he opened the door.

Victor seated her at a table in the back as Andreas slipped behind the stage. Victor’s stiff body language said he wasn’t pleased to see her. Although Ari acknowledged she had a talent for annoying Andreas, she hardly knew Victor. Maybe he was the sensitive type. Didn’t like being accused of murder. When the music started and her new partner began to sing, Ari forgot about the club’s assistant host.

Andreas had a breathtaking voice. Masculine, powerful, and, at times, unexpectedly tender. Even though Andreas kept his promise and didn’t try to breach her defenses, the performance held a richness of sensory experiences, his repertoire a mixture of English and Italian songs.

Ari sipped at a glass of white wine and watched the audience respond to his talent as much as his magic. She developed a quick preference for the songs in his native language, where unimpeded by words her imagination followed the meanderings of his voice. Images of warm, sunny skies, rolling hills, fig trees, and tangled vineyards stretching as far as the eye could see floated through her head. She sighed with regret when the last of the music faded. As the lights came up, she blinked, a sleeper snatched from a fascinating dream.

“You appear far away, young witch.” Andreas stood next to the table, looking down with those laughing eyes.

Ari gave herself a vigorous, mental shake. “Sudden light change,” she muttered. If they were going to be partners, she couldn’t continue to be so transparent. He didn’t need to know how much the music affected her.

“Come,” he said, holding out his hand. “Let us leave here and find a place more appropriate for planning strategy.”

Ari rose but didn’t take his hand. Touching seemed like another thing partners should avoid.

They walked and talked, ending up seated on a stone bench at the east end water fountain in Goshen Park. The first moments had been awkward. What do you chat about with a vampire? But Andreas took the initiative and got down to business. Ari found him an easy conversationalist.

They decided to visit Gordon’s nest that evening at nightfall, when the vampires would be up but not yet out for the night. With any luck, they also would have slurped a bag or two of O positive. Ari didn’t want to conduct an interview while viewed as a potential witchburger.

Having made that decision, they tossed around ideas of how and why the two vampires were taken. Nothing made much sense. Ransom and other typical hostage scenarios were ruled out by the simple passage of time without any demands. The voodoo story didn’t ring true, as Ari hadn’t found any stirrings of black magic in the community. Using the dark arts left distinctive negative energy behind that tended to linger.

On the chance the kidnappings were related to the other attacks, Ari filled in any details he didn’t already know. Andreas was a good listener: grasped things quickly, asked for clarification when necessary. Mostly he paid close attention.

At some point in the night, Ari realized they were mostly just bouncing ideas around, as if they enjoyed the process. In fact, Ari was so caught up in the conversation that pre-dawn came as a surprise.

Andreas looked up at the lightening sky. “It is almost time for me to go.”

“Before you do, will you tell me about the assassination attempt? Why did someone try to kill the prince?”

Andreas grew quiet. Ari knew she was risking their fledging relationship by asking about a vampire court incident, but it was something she needed to know. The timing of the attack had been too coincidental. There was a strong possibility it was linked to the other violence. Certainly it added to community tension.

“Somehow I perceive this is a test,” he said.

Ari lifted her shoulders. He was right, in a way. She needed to know the limits of their new arrangement.

The corner of his mouth twitched. “It is no secret. The attempt was clumsy, easily thwarted. Too easy. I have trouble viewing it as a serious assassination attempt. Of course there are others who do not agree with me.”

“But what happened?”

“A tradesman regularly admitted to Daron’s court attempted to stab him with a knife. Since the prince is surrounded by guards at all times, there was little chance of success.”

“So what was the point?”

“Exactly my thought. And I think the answer is complicated.” He cocked his head. “What knowledge do you have of vampire politics?”

“I know somebody usually dies.”

Andreas gave a careless wave. “Sometimes, but politics are never that simple. A prince’s personal power must be stronger than each of his lieutenants, but he rules only as long as he commands the combined power of his court. Whether that command is based on fear or loyalty depends on the Prince. Daron rules by loyalty. I believe this was an attempt to penetrate that allegiance. To prove that Daron’s inner circles could be breached.”

“Something more than a security failure.”

“Yes. If enough doubts are raised regarding the loyalty of Daron’s vampires, community support will waver, and the throne will be open to challenge.”

“A coup?”

“Something like that. This situation puzzles me.” His forehead creased into thoughtful lines. “To mount a successful challenge a vampire would have to have great personal power—and the ability to hold the court. Such a person should be obvious. But I believe anyone who might fit that description is still loyal to the prince.”

“Unless you’re wrong.”

“Yes, there is that.”

Interesting. Was Andreas’s name on the short list of the most powerful? Ari gave him a sideways glance. Yana had been right. Andreas was definitely more than he seemed.

“What’s your part in this?”

An easy smile curved his lips. “Let us say I’m loyal to the Prince and leave it at that.”

“Yana thinks you’re a lieutenant in Daron’s court.”

“Does she?” The smile remained in place.

“Is she right?” Ari persisted.

“Leave it alone, Arianna. We’re done with this topic. I’ve tried to answer your questions, but now you’re getting into personal affairs. Further discussion of the court would involve vampire matters that have nothing to do with you.”

Ari accepted the rebuff without offense. “I get the personal issue, but how do you know the attack on Prince Daron isn’t related to the other violence? What if the same person or group, like the wolves, is behind it all?”

“Can you prove that?”

He had her there. “I’m just saying it’s possible.”

“Anything is possible.” He stood and considered the sky again. “Dawn is close. Anything else you need to know?”

“One more question. That first night in Goshen Park—why were you there?”

Andreas looked down at her. “I was tracking the wolf. I had come across his trail and…followed a hunch. When I heard the scream, I assumed the wolf had attacked someone. But you were there.” His eyes darkened to unreadable depths. “We would have met sooner or later.”

Well, yeah, Ari thought. That was a no brainer. Riverdale wasn’t a huge community. “What kind of hunch are you talking about?”

“A poor one, apparently. I wanted to see where he went, who he met. But as you know, his only contact was with the children.”

Ari heard the reluctance in his voice. Not the whole story, but all he was willing to give. It was enough for tonight.

They parted at the park entrance. Ari went home to her apartment, and Andreas went wherever vampires go. She wondered if he slept in a coffin. Too creepy. She covered a yawn with her hand. It had been a long night, but she’d made a smart move bringing Andreas into the investigation. She hoped Ryan would see it that way. Wouldn’t he be surprised to learn he had a vampire partner?

Chapter Seventeen

Even though Ari slept late, Friday dragged as she waited for the foray into the vampires’ nest. She paced her apartment and jumped when the phone rang, edgy and eager to step into a world forbidden to outsiders. A copy of
Witches World
lay discarded on her kitchen table. After reading the same paragraph twice, she’d given up. She’d checked the clock at least a million times, but the hands seemed frozen in place.

Mid-afternoon she gathered the spells and potions for her pouch, selecting items that were most likely to affect vampires. Nothing in her arsenal would be foolproof or fatal, except the dagger and the witch fire, but she had lesser magics that could temporarily bind or slow a vamp. She wasn’t kidding herself that these small protections would be enough against an entire nest though, and she knew she was placing her safety in Andreas’s hands. The busy activity helped with the nervous edge.

She avoided calling Ryan. The vamps wouldn’t allow a full-blooded human near one of their nests. He’d only worry, knowing she was going, and he’d try to stop her. She didn’t want to have that argument. Or tell him about the partnership. Not yet. Not until she proved how useful Andreas would be.

* * *

Ari was early to the rendezvous point. Five o’clock, Goshen Park. She’d asked Andreas how he could meet so early, but he’d brushed it off, saying the ability to resist the sun grew over time. Ari knew it couldn’t be that simple. She was betting others as old were still snoozing.

However he did it, Andreas strode down the path, precisely on time. He looked ready for a special ops mission in black jeans and a black, turtleneck sweater. The fabrics looked expensive, and she figured they were Armani too.

He looked her over and grinned. “My compliments.”

He’d suggested she dress for the occasion, feminine but official. That meant her white Guardian jacket. Not a bad choice since it emphasized her lingering summer tan. She paired it with white skinny jeans, a silk blouse open at the throat, and ankle boots.

They looked like yin and yang, a symbolism she chose to ignore.

Before they left the park, he insisted she remove the silver charm bracelet. “The nest leader won’t allow you to enter with a cross and holy water.” He watched as she slipped it into her pouch.

“Why don’t the charms bother you?” she asked.

“What makes you think they don’t?”

“You haven’t turned away or shaded your eyes.”

“One develops a certain tolerance…”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, over time. So don’t tell me. Let’s get on with this.”

Andreas led the way through Olde Town’s winding streets, gradually moving beyond the vampire clubs, beyond the tourist district, and into unfamiliar territory. The slope of the land grew steeper as they descended from the high cliffs to the lower banks on the southeast side, where the Oak River met the Mighty Mississippi. Within twenty minutes, they reached an area of thick brush. As Andreas pulled the branches aside, she saw crude steps fashioned from bolted logs that led over the edge and down the bank, disappearing from view. Vampire territory.

She froze for an instant, uncertain of her decision to be there. “Do you know where this ends?” she asked.

Andreas just looked at her. She climbed over the edge.

They reached the bottom and stepped onto a rocky area with pathways branching in four directions. A strong fishy smell saturated the air. The soft lapping of the river murmured nearby. Andreas chose a trail on the right, and they began walking again. Dusk had deepened into dark, and the path was becoming hard to see. Vines and brush encroached from both sides and grabbed at her jeans.

Andreas stopped. “Wait here.”

When he disappeared into the shadows ahead, Ari glanced around, wondering what spiders or other creepy crawlies might lurk in the brush. She didn’t like bugs. Brando had ruined their charm at age ten when he dropped a grasshopper in her shorts.